Revisiting "The Blueprint:" Jay-Z's Magnum Opus Sounds As Relevant As Ever

Shawn Carter, Jigga, Jay-Z, whatever you want to call him, has cemented himself as one of the greatest artists of all time.

Early in his career in 2001, Jay-Z released what would later become his most critically-acclaimed piece of work yet, The Blueprint. I first heard this album my freshman year of college and instantly fell in love with the work. Since then, several of the songs have been in my rotation for musical playlists. Today, I want to revisit this masterpiece and further examine what constitutes this as such an incredible piece of work.

The Blueprint is everything that hip-hop is at its core. Jay-Z highlights the Oedipus complex he "suffers" from as the newfound fame has him struggling between what is right and seizing what is his. Before he was Jay-Z, he was just a poverty-stricken young black kid in the streets of Brooklyn. A movie that we have seen time and time again where a rapper comes from nothing into millions. However, Jay-Z's story felt different. Kind of like it was destiny for him to embody this persona of a God in the streets.

Jay-Z, only 26 at the time, had the wisdom of an elder due to his time of crushing poverty. The Blueprint highlights everything about the success story that listeners love. Overcoming poverty, managing relationships, his addiction to money, and multiple women, Jay-Z is shockingly vulnerable on this record without sounding like he is overcompensating or being dramatic. The self-awareness for an individual of his stature is staggering to say the least. Especially in a discipline that almost requires you to be a larger-than-life persona.

There are several standout tracks here, but my absolute favorite is Renegade. With a remarkable feature from Eminem, the six-minute track explores Jay-Z's inner focus and what has led to his success. "Say that I'm foolish I only talk about jewels, do you fools listen to music or do you just skim through it?" Jay-Z brought to light an issue that still plagues the hip-hop industry to this day. The lack of lyricism and actual effort put into projects is astounding in modern times. Even 20 years ago, Jay-Z saw this coming and got ahead of the curve. The track plays as an ode to the success of Jay-Z and lays out the blueprint for how he will continue to reign supreme.

Ultimately, The Blueprint is an artist capitalizing on his prime and establishing himself in the upper echelon of rappers. Nobody else at the time was able to successfully create both chart-toppers and consciously-complex music simultaneously.